After all of last week’s buildup and watching this episode through to the very end, I feel a little conflicted over the message I think this arc was trying to tell. Then again, my emotions are all kinds of screwed up after watching Kill La Kill and researching One Week Friends — so who knows!

Sophia and The Dark Flame Dragon

A constantly recurring theme throughout this second season (and something that was touched on briefly right as the first season ended) has been the influence that chuunibyou has on all of our beloved characters. Be it trying to figure out how to manage your love life while still being able to banish reality, coming to terms with your chuunibyou and the past you left behind, or even simply trying to figure out whether or not it’s okay to just let your inner chuunibyou fly free — I can’t help but have a stupid smile on my face as I remember facing some of the same trials.

Which is precisely why I felt so damn conflicted with this week’s episode. With Yuuta being as dense as a rock and being too cowardly at first to do anything about it, I thought Kumin-senpai’s words of wisdom about how being in love is like being in a dream was a clever way of giving him some pretty damn good advice about how to handle Sophia (ie: Wake her up, literally.). Add in Nibutani going above and beyond the call of duty (which I’ll get into in a second) to tell Sophia she needs to face her problems instead of going about them in such a roundabout way and I thought we had the perfect setup for Yuuta and Sophia to get the closure that they both desperately needed.

What followed though was something that completely broke my heart. Even as a huge fan of the Yuuta x Rikka pairing and being a complete sucker for their cute relationship, I almost broke down thinking about how Sophia was literally bitch slapped in the face with reality. Not only did she have to watch the man of her dreams literally run straight by her without even a second glance but then to be subjected to a scene like this felt like throwing salt into an open wound. And don’t even get me started about the whole idea that she had to watch another girl figure out Yuuta’s secret when she couldn’t!

All of it wasn’t too sad though, I guess. The whole battle scene that Sophia got against the illusive Dark Flame Dragon and the following gust of wind was a really nice touch from Kyoani to really drive the point home that she and Yuuta got some kind of closure by the end of things. While I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one who saw a glint of love shining through her eyes right at the very end of the episode, I suppose I can be satisfied with what we got.

We all need a Nibutani in our life — with a hint of Kumin-senpai.

I’ve called Nibutani a lot of things this season but Best Friend is what I think describes her best this week. Even with her RBF on display because of how frustrated she was (I personally thought she looked kind of cute), there’s no denying the source of that frustration was from Yuuta and Sophia’s inability to handle Sophia’s one-sided emotions. And if anything, Yuuta was the one being a bit of a jerk about the whole thing! But as frustrated as she was with Sophia and Yuuta’s stupidity, watching her Dekomori-kick Yuuta and dawning her Mori Summer outfit for Sophia was all I needed to understand just how serious she was about trying to help her friends. Nibutani<3

Looking Ahead

Back when Sophia was first introduced, I never expected her arc to be one of the greatest things I would watch. With my emotions running rampant and feeling bad for everyone involved for different reasons, I don’t think there could have been a better way to close out the season. While that means the finale to the season will probably be something lighthearted or completely irrelevant (Oh god, please no Isshiki episode), I’m still excited to see how things wrap up. See you around the bend!

Random Thoughts

I totally forgot to talk about it, but I think I got lost in my overflow of emotions for Sophia up there. If there was something that this episode definitely did, it was solidify Yuuta and Rikka’s relationship. With the perfect example of a “I Love You” moment, the whole thing with Yuuta explaining to Rikka that their love transcends silly things like trinkets was it. While a kiss would have been appropriate for the situation, I think both Sophia and I would have completely lost our shit if it happened.

Im kinda not impressed with Rikka and her whole “adventure”…it kinda ruin the whole purpose of Satone’s agony for the last two episodes. I know its not Golden Time’s drama, but then…they kinda wasted Satone and Shinka’s efforts to Yuuta. :/

Anyways, happy to see Shinka, Kumin and Deko caring sides. Esp Shinka…i was hoping Shinka to punch or hit Yuuta when he was being a jerk to Satone’s feelings. Shinka is such a great friend. KyoAni best girl and best character for me! Jealous Deko is cuteee! ^^

Yup, They handled her agony very badly. Writers tend to mess up at the worst of times.
They had everything set up: The build-up, the cliffhanger, the feels..and they went and told Satone, “Sorry girl but swallow those unyielding feelings and put a smile on your face, you can do it, we know you’re a trooper.”
There was no confrontation at all, btw.. just a mock battle and animation eye candy.
If only we could just wash away our feelings like that IRL… Dame, Kyoani..you dropped the ball.

Guess KyoAni is good with what they’re doing: building up tension, crying characters, indulging audience with cliffhangers and resolving them peacefully. It was all in our heads. We were expecting too much ==

When Shinka slide-tackled Yuuta, I cheered. Not even gonna pretend I didn’t. He was being a putz and deserved it, and it was nice that the kick shortened drama that would’ve been basically a repeat of last season. Then she showed up in full Mori Summer mode and it became official for anyone who hadn’t got the memo yet: Shinka is THE best! She needs her own spin-off where she grows up and becomes a high-school guidance counselor!

I forgave Yuuta a little when he figured out what Rikka was up to and charged off like his life was on the line. His heart was on the line, so same thing! Was a little glad when Rikka’s cold got worse, since as nice as the whole thing turned out, her reasoning was pretty ridiculous. Still, fighting the DFD helped Satone sort things out, so at least we got good results.

I must say that while Yuuta being dense and all didn’t annoy me much if at all, his behavior towards Nibutani in this episode did so. “Nobody asked for your help.” Gah, he deserved a punch to the face for that.

So Satone’s only purpose in this show was to come in and be the third cog in a love triangle, battle and defeat the dark flame dragon that Rikka was out and about trying to ressurect, and then get ran over by the freight train that is Yuuta x Rikka.

Man, why don’t you just call her Linda while you’re at it. KyoAni really mailed it in here.

erm… why Linda? lol AFAIK Linad doesnt have feelings for Banri (besides friendship) as far as we have been shown in the eps. (and that trend continues since ep 1 too lol)

and love triangle? not really .. even Sophia said she wont interfere in Rikka and Yuuta’s relationship (she KNOWS her time passed.. she is just trying to get over the feelings she has) … there is NO cog , she knows she doesnt fit and she DOESNT want to fit .. even if her hearth calls for it.

PS: lol just noticed the last episode blogged for Golden Time was ep 13 .. didnt even noticed they dropped that series xD

I’m not going to go into detail about another show in a different blog but given what i’ve seen in the past 23 episodes of Golden Time saying Linda doesn’t have some sort of feelings for Banri is ludicrous.

I must admit, even if i am not following the 2nd season here. This kind of drawing the persons…. well, it is like they have a special touch. it is the face? dunno. but i have a feeling, that here they are more “real” then other animes… even if my head said thats all fiction ones…

Guess a lesson from this is that love is never easy, but . . . Anyway, something I would have added before their ‘battle’ would have been Yuuta telling Satone something like: “You know if you defeat me, there will be other Dark Masters to deal with. Are you ready?” SOMETHING to tell her that there are others out there for her.

A small detail that just hit home for me: Yuuta finally finds Rikka outside and hugs her tightly. … then Rikka says, “I can’t breathe.” …. you realize that Yuuta values Rikka as his love SO MUCH, he would almost choke her, as his love is more important than anything in the whole world! And it’s at that point where I basically grabbed my heart.

Even though Yuuta and Shichimiya did get “closure,” it was hard to take it seriously because of the whole “chuunibyou” aspect (but that’s what that show is all about) so I’m okay with that. But, it really did hurt when I watched Shichimiya witness all the Yuuta x Rikka moments… it’s like her role is only just to be “there” and strengthen Yuuta and Rikka’s relationship. I just really feel for her a lot.///

mmm i kind of expected a bigger confrontation between Sophia and Yuuta… i mean they “battled” their chuunibyous … but i kind of thought they would have an honest bare faced talk… Sophia needs that to actually have closure (or she could always think that she “lost” him because of her not getting over her chuunibyou life style). Also i knew Nibutani would help out..but kind of expected Rikka to say something (specially since she “knows”).

PS: really someone give Yuuta the “Best BF of the year” award? .. yeah he can come as dense and insensitive (to other girls)… but the simple fact is that he “only has eyes for Rikka”

I think why this arc works so well is because we have all been Satone in this situation. A seemingly nice carefree person who just wants to give into that selfishness and admit that they want the one they love all for themselves. Here’s hoping she can move on and find someone new who will appreciate her. FIGHT SATONE!

Found it really weird that Sophia was hanging around while Yuuta and Rikka were having their moment. And then she goes fighting the dragon? How would that battle be interpreted in real life? Instead of a CG dragon being owned by lasers, I think it’d be a more powerful scene to show Yuuta and Sophia acting out the battle while telling each other their honest feelings. No effects, just a lot of crying while posing and chanting spells.

I also found it weird when Yuuta started taking it out on Mori Summer. She has been his wingman for so long and look at what he does after she runs out of advices. :/

I hope there’s more to Satone’s story. They can’t just leave it like that. They also can’t just make her go away.

i totally agree in changing the fight scene like that, it would make more sense and probably be more tear jerking. I was even wondering what was the point on evolving rikka’s imagination*the robot* with out having a final fight with it.

I have a feeling that next week will not be the lighthearted ending which you predicted Takaii. Sophia’s “Bye Bye” at the very end definitely rings alarm bells that she is likely either (i) transferring somewhere else; or (ii) will attempt to cut all ties with Yuuta and co completely. This is in sharp contrast to her remark back in episode 3 along the lines of “once you say your farewells, that becomes goodbye”. Might be reading too much into it, as it could just be Sophia saying her goodbyes to her one-sided love of Yuuta, but feels like its more than that to me.

I am hoping that she stays, considering that it is possible that there will be a 3rd season (with the recent release of the 3rd light novel). If there is a third season, Sophia is too awesome to not be included in the series.